Spring Trip Denver to San Diego
We are planning a four-week family trip of a lifetime for this coming April when my husband gets back from a year in Afghanistan. The route at the moment is as follows: We would welcome any thoughts ideas.
Denver/Boulder skiing 3 days
Pick up RV Leave Denver
Grand Junction 1nt
Arches 1 nt
Monument valley 1nt
Grand Canyon 1 nt
Zion and or Bryce 1 nt
Las Vegas 1 nt
Where to stay here on the way to Yosemite??? Do we go up into Sequoia?/Lake Isabella?
Yosemite 2 nts
Arrive in San Francisco. Leave RV. Hire car. Stay 2nts
Highlights on the West Coast? Where to stop?
San Diego 5 nts
So, we have 11 more nights and the question is, where do we put them to balance the driving and resting/exploring/relaxing?
All tips on places to stay/eat along the route would be very welcome, Thank you.
Challenges and Opportunities
Welcome aboard the RoadTrip America Forums!
April is an extremely 'interesting' time to be traveling in the southwestern United States. As you know, you can be skiing one day and traversing desert terrain the next. This can be wonderful, allowing you to enjoy both your mountain sports and get to some desert areas when they are still cool enough to enjoy - you might even get to experience a wildflower bloom. But it has a downside as well. You won't be able to get to the North rim of the Grand Canyon (which would make more sense between Monument Valley and Zion) or take the short scenic route between Las Vegas and Yosemite over Tioga Pass. Both will still be snowbound and closed.
This actually causes me to question one of the basic aspects of your trip, and that is your use of an RV for the first portion of it. For much of this leg you will be at elevations well above 6,000 feet and even in the 'spring' it could easily drop below freezing at night. At a minimum, this will mean that your RV will need to be fully winterized for the trip, and at worst means that you simply won't be able to keep it warm enough overnight to be completely comfortable. In addition, should you encounter any snow or other adverse weather conditions, your home on wheels will be much harder to control than a typical car. If you haven't driven an RV in winter, you should look into the consequences. I would seriously reconsider this decision.
So, that aside, where to spend your 'extra' 11 days? Well, there are certainly many sites worth visiting in the Southwest near your proposed route. Such sites would include Mesa Verde National Park on the way from Arches to Monument Valley. Canyon de Chelly National Monument and Petrified Forest National Park would make a worthwhile little loop between Monument Valley and the Grand Canyon. In the Grand Canyon area, Flagstaff would make a great place to take a break from driving and spend a day or two checking out the Lowell Observatory, the Museum of Northern Arizona and nearby Walnut Canyon, Wupatki, and Sunset Crater Volcano National Monuments. Since, as noted earlier, Tioga Pass will still be closed, you will have to skirt the Sierra Nevada to the south through Barstow and Bakersfield. As long as you're going that way (and assuming your husband was not and will not be based there) you might want to consider a visit to Edwards Air Force Base, home of the 'Right Stuff'.
Finally, the drive from San Francisco down to San Diego via the Pacific Coast Highway (CA-1) not only can but should be driven at a leisurely pace. Monterey/Carmel is another area where you could easily spend a few days. Highlights would include the Monterey Aquarium, 17 Mile Drive, the beaches, Historic Monterey, Pebble Beach, and Carmel Mission. Farther down the coast there's the Hearst Castle at San Simeon and several sea lion rookeries.
Hope this gives you some ideas and food for thought. And thank your husband from us for his service.
AZBuck
Thank you for saving us from chilly nights!
Thank you so much for your useful thoughts and ideas. We had thought that the RV was the ideal way to experience the National Parks, but I hadn't considered the overnight cold. We would still like to have the RV experience somewhere along the route - How about from Vegas to San Francisco via Lake Isabella, Sequioa and Yosemite? We'd be in Vegas from the 3rd or 4th of April? Do you think it might still be too cold then? If so is is worth doing the last leg, from San Francisco to San Diego in an RV or do you think that is better done in a car?
You also mentioned going south through Bakersfield to Yosemite. Where would you stay on that leg? Lake Isabella?
Thank you!
Not out of the question IMO.
What a shame the weather is so unpredictable ! Everyones tolerance levels are different and you really need to decide for yourselves what yours are. We often travel by RV and out of the main season, where we have seen temps down to -10 on the odd occasion and although there is no denying it gets rather chilly in the RV, it doesn't put us off travelling this way at the time of year we generally do, October. It's also [like April] a risk as to what the weather might bring, as well as lows below freezing we often see days in the 70's and it's important to be prepared for each scenario. Although no guarantees, you can search for climate data to get an idea of what conditions you might face where.
Buck's given you some great ideas of other places to visit but I would also consider more time at the places you have mentioned. By the time you consider travel time 1 night might not be as much as you would have liked at these natural wonders. I would also make that "Zion and Bryce" and not "or".
Set right in the heart of nature.
Quote:
As for Yosemite, we had found a remote lodge, which we thought would be more remote and in the wilderness than the RV Park...
Not your typical RV park.
NP Campgrounds are popular with people, but that is because they are right in the heart of nature. They are not generally in a developed area, just cleared areas to park in among the trees/Rocks etc to share with the wildlife.
